A musical review of 2013

Album of the year

2013 was a big year for releases of bands I liked, as noted last March. Many were good, some great, all meant something. My top 5 in no particular order:

#1: The Winery Dogs – The Winery Dogs / best rock album in years, very fluid, lots of soul
#2: Queensryche – Queensryche / great comeback album, so excited to see them back at full speed and they’re already in the studio
#3: Bleu – To Hell with you / great songwriting/composition and ‘new’ production that turned my ears into new directions
#4: Karnivool – Asymmetry / Slowly but steady Karnivool is turning into my favorite band, replacing the mighty Dream Theater. I love the textures, the sound, the quirky characters, overall feel.
#5: Sharron Levy – Rough_Ready / very solid debut from the former The Voice contestant. it grows with every listen and that’s all you can ask for.

I also liked a lot: Eminem – Marshall Mathers LP 2, Niacin – Krush, The New Roses – Without a Trace, Black Light Burns – The Moment You Realize you’re going to fall

Top concerts

I re-discovered how much I liked live shows and saw quite a few actually. Playing on Thursdays and Saturdays a lot myself I couldn’t attend every show I wanted but most I saw were fun.

Best moment: Bleu performing in my living room. I realize I haven’t written about this and I must, but suffice to say it moved me lots to listen to his great songs but also to share it with friends, family and neighbors.

Most rocking show: The Winery Dogs. There was so much soul and blues in their show, with the songs taking center stage, not the chops.

Best overall concert: Karnivool/The Intersphere. Best support act of the year, by far. Plus, I had high expectations for Karnivool – and they were met.

Best concert I missed: I should have not only interviewed Wes Borland but also stuck around for the Black Light Burns show. Others I didn’t see: Mark Tremonti, Sharron Levy, Queensryche (but in my defense, they didn’t play anywhere close)

Playing live

Our cover band Mrs. Jones was quite active last year with 27 gigs or so. It’s not enough to live on but almost too many to play as a hobby. Still, I enjoyed almost every single one of them and we’ll continue to pound the stages of the Reeperbahn. This year.

Original music

As mentioned I also got around to start a new band with my music but that is actually a story for 2014…